by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority recently submitted its 2003 fiscal year Congressional Earmark Request. Among the $32 million wish list is $6.5 million to replace approximately 96 of the JTA’s 208 coaches over the next five years.
The buses must be replaced because of a mandate within the Transit Development Plan, which was approved by the JTA Board. The plan requires that old coaches be removed from the regular bus routes, but not until they have met government required standards.
“The life expectancy of a bus is 12 years,” said Mike Blaylock, the deputy executive director/director of mass transit for JTA. “The Federal Transportation Administration requires that we keep a bus a minimum of 12 years or 500,000 miles.”
Stephanie Barker of JTA’s communications and marketing department said buses often last longer than a dozen years and that JTA has many that are much older. Their longevity can be attributed to a stringent maintenance schedule.
“They are maintained daily with four comprehensive services annually based on mileage,” said Barker, adding that buses are taken off regular routes after JTA officials determine they are no longer cost-effective to maintain.
What happens to the old buses once they are taken off a daily route varies. Some are shifted into part-time, light duty service such as being used as shuttle buses for Jacksonville Jaguars games and the Georgia-Florida game. Others are sold at auctions and may be used however the new owner wishes. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office even has one.
“We donated one to the police, they refurbished it and use it as a mobile unit,” said Joanne Kazmierski, the marketing and communications coordinator for JTA.
Asking Congress for the money is one thing, getting it is a whole other matter. Because the TDP requires the buses be replaced, which will happen on an incremental basis, if Congress denies all or part of the fiscal request, JTA will have to look elsewhere. With JTA’s 2003 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 — like the City’s — there is a bit of a time crunch for the funding, or at least part of it.
According to Blaylock, JTA needs to either have the congressional funding secured or an alternate funding answer by late summer.
“We receive capital funds from the federal government based on a formula,” said Blaylock. “Special congressional requests are made annually to finance payments beyond the available money provided by the formula grants. Additionally, funds can be provided by the Florida Department of Transportation.”
Because the JTA doesn’t plan on replacing all 96 coaches at one time —it would like to obtain about 20 new buses a year for the next five years — getting all $6.5 million within the next few months isn’t imperative. However, in order to fulfill the requirements of the TDP, the JTA will need about $1.3 million in congressional assistance before the next fiscal year begins in order to purchase the 20 new buses, which come at $208,000 each.
Despite having a thorough service department and service record for each bus, the JTA’s coaches take a beating. With 57 daily routes handled by 138 buses covering most of Jacksonville’s approximate 850 square miles, the problem is not the number of miles put on each bus each day, but rather the type of miles. With the exception of a few express routes, most bus routes include numerous stops. Add in the fact that virtually every bus route is in a high-traffic area and it’s not hard to understand how and why a the mechanical life of a bus can be much less than that of a car that gets driven on the open road and doesn’t have to make frequent, planned and unplanned stops. In total, JTA buses cover almost 8 million miles
a year.